No F*****g Lists.com

"I haven't been this excited about death metal since 1991!"  That's what an internet acquaintance of mine posted on Facebook recently during a discussion about the wealth of excellent bands knocking about at present.  During the posting frenzy that quickly became a "recent discoveries" exchange many names came out of the hat such as Chapel Of Disease and Sempiternal Dusk but the origin of that discussion was a link that had been posted to the latest release from German band Sulphur Aeon. "Gateway To The Antisphere" promises epic DM soundscapes with it's dramatic Cthulhu artwork and opens very strongly with a menacing intro to boot before the fury of album opener (proper) "Devotion to the Cosmic Chaos".  It is obvious straight away that this is going to be as epic as the artwork suggests as the formidable drumming instantly settles into an impressive array of blastbeats and fills to accompany the huge riffs and dark, foreboding atmos...

It's hard to review an album by Ufomammut.  I mean I never pick up one of their releases expecting to be able to note the marked difference between it and any of the preceding records.  I am not sat here listening to "Ecate" expecting to have a moment when I blurt out loud "By Golly! That's a flute being played there!" or "By the beard of Zeus, that orchestral piece was magnificent!". Ufomammut aren't about that.  Put simply they are about heavy, psychedelic and drone infested music that delivers exactly what it says on the tin. The class of Ufomammut is that despite the lack of variation across releases the quality control is amazing and (once again) their latest release is flawless.  It's six tracks that thunder through your very being into the pit of your soul like a machine and along the way is sufficient a sprinkling of psychedelia to provoke your spiritual glands aplenty. If there is any band I would want to see live, Uf...

To say Ad Nauseam remind me a little of Gorguts is both an understatement and an injustice at the same time.  The intricate riffing and scathing, jarring sounds of most of "Nihil..." has Luc Lemay written all over it and that's a fine influence to wear very proudly.  But at the same time there is so much more to the record than just complex DM.  As I sit here with the last throes of the final track stamping it's harsh doom laden final rites all over me I am almost backstage at an Electric Wizard gig.  On other occasions I am lost in the swirling, murky and horrific madness of a Portal or Impetuous Ritual record.  Also there is the dark grandeur of Deathspell Omega looming in the background across much of the record. Whatever influences we want to talk of in regards to this record the overriding message is that the whole thing is very well put together.  Whether it is the looping time changes or the reckless fury of the riffing as it oddballs it's way thr...